Round 210

The building's groan deepens into a sound like tearing cloth as Halie braces herself against the door, feeling the wardstone's pulse beat through the wood like a living thing. Her burned hands scream protest but she grits her teeth and ignores them—every second counts now that the structure is giving way around them.

"Jeane—how long?!" Her voice comes out higher than intended as she shifts her weight, trying to find better leverage against the barrier. The makeshift barricade is already straining under the weight pressing from the other side—the wardstone's energy making the very air feel heavy and wrong. She doesn't dare turn to look at what the succubus woman is doing behind her, not when she can hear that obscene buzzing sound growing louder with each passing second.

The floor beneath them shifts again, more dramatically this time. A fresh crack appears along the ceiling overhead as dust rains down from above. Halie's heart leaps into her throat but she doesn't move—can't move or the door might give way completely. The wardstone pulses accelerate in response to their panic, each beat sending fresh corruption seeping through the frame like cold oil spreading across water.

"Fuck—fuck—" She hisses under her breath as her grip slips again on the mirror she's using as a brace. The smooth glass slides against her burned palms and she has to readjust quickly before it drops completely. Her hands are already screaming protest from earlier contact with the wardstone—she can feel blisters forming underneath the torn skin—but there's no choice now.

The corridor stretches ahead into darkness beyond the door, revealing nothing of what lies deeper inside the building. But whatever's approaching down there is getting closer fast—the sound of shifting debris and something else... something organic? She swallows hard against rising panic but keeps her weight braced against the barrier.

"Please hurry," she mutters, more prayer than statement as another wardstone pulse washes over them like physical filth. "I can't hold this much longer..."